


Bloodhound

by heffalumps



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age II
Genre: Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, Character Development, Gen, One Shot Collection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-03
Updated: 2020-09-03
Packaged: 2021-03-06 21:40:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 1,393
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26255785
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heffalumps/pseuds/heffalumps
Summary: He had become a templar to save people. Just because he had failed once didn’t mean he would fail again. If terror could become resolve, pain could become strength.A series of one-shots looking to flesh out the off-screen character development of Cullen Rutherford throughout the plot of Dragon Age II. Written by effelants, illustration by vjatoch.
Comments: 14
Kudos: 30





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I haven't published anything in over a year. :') I'm so proud of myself for actually getting into gear and doing something! And publishing it! And everything! 
> 
> As always, comments are appreciated more than I can ever say. I was quite scared to publish this into the void of having been forgotten as a writer, and it means so much to me to see people taking the time to read, kudo and comment. <3 Thank you!

The days he didn’t wake up screaming were the good ones. 

When Cullen first arrived in Kirkwall, those days were few and far between. Take your lyrium, they told him. It keeps you strong. The pity in their eyes when they looked at him told him what they were really thinking: there wasn’t enough lyrium in the world to bring him back. A broken templar from a broken Circle; to be stowed away, kept hidden from view until the lyrium finally claimed him for good. And he believed them. 

Days turned into weeks. Good days began to outnumber the bad. In his moments of clarity, the times between jumping at dark shadows and grieving the person he had been and lost, a single thought stirred: what if he could make up for what he had done? Be the man he set out to be? The pity in their eyes when he asked to be assigned to the shift schedule told him he couldn’t. Yet again, he believed them. 

Weeks turned into months. He lost track of time, going through the motions of a life lived as slowly, surely, terror hardened into resolve. He had become a templar to save people. Just because he had failed once didn’t mean he would fail again. If terror could become resolve, pain could become strength. The next time he made his request, it was more of a demand — and the pity in their eyes was gone. This time, _they_ believed _him_. 

He would never be weak again. 


	2. Chapter 2

_ Magic exists to serve man, and never to rule over him.  _

Blood mixed into the sand at their feet, churning into a paste in time with the pacing of their boots. From one side of the clearing to the other, from the corpses to the pyre, carrying first one body, then another.

_ Foul and corrupt are they who have taken His gift and turned it against His children.  _

Finally, it was done. Empty eyes stared back at Cullen as he bent down, murmuring final rites of peace and forgiveness over the pounding of the opposing words in the back of his mind. He reached over and gently closed the eyes of the apostate at his feet, his fingers tingling where the thin calfskin of his glove brushed against her skin. It was still warm.

_ They shall be named Maleficar, accursed ones. _

Her eyes wouldn’t stay shut. As Cullen stood up, they sprung right back open to glare at him once more, almost accusingly. He had done this, they said. He had taken her life. His stomach clenched. “Light the pyre,” came the barked order from behind him.

_ They shall find no rest in this world... or beyond. _

Cullen squared his shoulders, steeled his resolve. “Yes, sir,” he said — and lit a match.


	3. Chapter 3

The Knight-Commander had seen what he had seen; she had seen the true face of the foe they were up against. Even among his fellow templars, that was a rarity. 

“I’ve heard a lot about your actions in the field, Knight-Lieutenant,” she said as she looked him up and down appraisingly. “I’m… pleased.”

“Thank you, Knight-Commander.”

“You understand, don’t you? You don’t just know what the mages are capable of — you’ve seen it.”

Hers wasn’t a question that required an answer. Instead, Cullen stood still until the Knight-Commander drew a sharp breath.

“Why don’t you shadow me for a little while, Knight-Lieutenant? I have a feeling we would work well together.” Her eyes snapped to his again, but instead of the steel he’d expected from her tone, he found something softer, something deeper in her gaze. 

Understanding, maybe. 

He nodded. “Yes, Knight-Commander. As you say.”

“Good. You are excused.”

As the door to her office closed behind him, Cullen couldn’t help but wonder what the Knight-Commander of Kirkwall had lost at the hands of mages.


	4. Chapter 4

_ “I know you, Cullen.” _

He could hear his sister’s voice in her words, as clearly as if she were standing there in front of him.

_ “Somehow, I don’t know how, but somehow you’ve managed to convince yourself that it’s the right thing to do to ignore me. I don’t know what your reasoning for it is, but I don’t care. You’re wrong. I’m your sister, and I’m here for you. That hasn’t changed, even if you have.” _

His sister was wrong; he hadn’t even thought of contacting her. All these years, and it hadn’t even occurred to him. He wasn’t who she thought he was. He wasn’t her Cullen — not anymore.

_ “I know you, Cullen — you’re a kinder man than this.” _

‘A kinder man than this’ — but what she really meant to say was ‘a  _ better _ man than this’. He scoffed, crumpled the letter in his palm and threw it into the dwindling fire. She didn’t know. She was naïve, like everyone else he had sworn to protect — but that was as it should be. He did his duty so that she would never have to know. 

And yet her words rang in his mind: a kinder man than this. Kindness was a virtue he himself had once sworn by — a virtue he could no longer afford. He turned to stare into the flames, but all he could see were the cold, dead eyes of the apostate.


	5. Chapter 5

“It’s my fault,” Samson whispered. “I did this.”

Cullen didn’t know what to say, and silence fell between them. Only their footsteps echoed through the silent corridor, the harshness of metal against stone at odds with the tempered warmth of the night.

When they reached the door, Cullen turned to face him. “Do you have everything you need?” he asked, his discomfort making his voice come out rougher than he’d intended.

Samson laughed, a hollow, humorless laugh. “What do you think, Knight-Captain?” He invoked the title with a sneer. “Do I have everything I need?” 

Cullen found he had nothing to say to that, either. Instead, he hoisted the leather bag carrying Samson’s personal effects from his shoulder and offered it to the other man. He accepted it and, without so much as glancing at Cullen, stepped out the door. Just as Cullen was about to close it behind him, he suddenly stopped and turned.

“Have you ever considered, Knight-Captain, that we may be on the wrong side?”

Cullen met his fevered gaze with a measured one of his own. “Goodbye, Knight-Templar.”

As he pulled the heavy oaken door closed in Samson’s face, he could have sworn he heard the other man laugh. “Not so sure anymore, are you?”

Cullen turned on his heel to face the dark corridor, one overwhelming thought echoing in his mind: no, he wasn’t.


	6. Chapter 6

_ I will be rewarded for my actions, in this world and in the next. I have done nothing but perform my duty; I have upheld the sacred oath I have sworn, protected the people that I serve. _

Her voice echoed in Cullen’s ears, clear as if she were still standing beside him; words he could easily have spoken himself

_ The mages must be stopped. It is our duty to see it done. _

There had been no honor in it. What she had suggested had not followed proper protocol — she had had no right to do what she had proposed. To take lives, without trial, without due process… 

_ Insubordination! _

His hands balled into fists at his side, the angry word echoing inside his mind. Had he been right to act as he had?

“Knight-Commander?” a quiet voice to his side asked, and Cullen jumped.

“Do not call me that.”

“My apologies — Knight-Captain. There is still the issue of what to do with… her body. The others are afraid to approach it. We thought perhaps...” the young templar’s voice faded off, and he looked to the side.

“Tell me.”

“We… we were wondering… if perhaps some of the surviving mages might be able to help.” The young templar looked so afraid — afraid of suggesting to Cullen that a mage might be of assistance. And, after everything, Cullen couldn’t blame him.

Cullen nodded his permission, and the young templar moved off again, leaving him alone with his thoughts once more. This time, the voice echoing in his mind was his own.

_ I will not stand for this. Knight-Commander, I relieve you of your command. _

Perhaps it wasn’t too late for him. Perhaps he could still fix what he had broken.


End file.
